ABSTRACT
The characteristic feature of industrial activity in Indo-China is its great variety, whether concerning the materials employed or the stage of development. Natural resources of many kinds, -the large population of the lowlands traditionally skilled in handicraft and other work, and the initiative of the European have brought about this diversity in manufacturing effort. A distinction must be drawn between smallscale native craft industries generally carried on within the home of the peasant, and the highly capitalized modern factory industries established by the French during the last half-century. Despite the widely scattered nature of the one and the recent progress of the other, the proportion of the population engaged in handicraft work, mining and processing is extremely small, perhaps no more than 5 %. The gross output of individual goods, moreover, has never been large and in the country's foreign trade manufacturing products playa subordinate role.
